Mubārak, Buṭros (1663–1742) [Maron.]

Syriac scholar who collaborated with Assemani on an edition of Ephrem’s writings.

Born in Batḥa, near Ghosṭa, in Lebanon, Mubārak was sent to the Maronite College in Rome at a very young age, in 1672. After his studies, he returned to Lebanon in 1685, and was ordained a priest by Patr. Isṭifān al-Duwayhī in 1687. During a second stay in Rome, on behalf of the Maronite Church, he established contact with Cosimo III, the Duke of Tuscany, who in 1698 appointed him to the chair of Oriental languages at the University of Pisa. He resigned from the university in 1707 and entered into the Jesuit order, which brought him back to Rome. In 1730, at the request of Cardinal Querini, he started working on the so-called ‘Roman’ edition of Ephrem ’s works. To this project J. S. Assemani contributed Ephrem’s Greek works, with Latin translations (in 3 vols.: 1732, 1743, and 1746), while Mubārak was in charge of the Syriac, again with Latin translations. The first two volumes appeared in 1737 and 1740. After Mubārak’s death, the third Syriac volume was seen through the press by S. E. Assemani (1743). This posthumous volume contains, among other things, the Life of Ephrem (XXIII–LXIII).